Soluble composition of sodium silicate or the like and process of preparing the same.



L. B.'EDGERTON.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 8, l9I4.

Patented Sept. 12

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

SOLUBLE COMPOSITION 0F SODIUNI SILICATE 0R THE LIKE AND PROCESS 0F PREPARING THE SAM;

s E s s E N n w L. B. EDGERTON. SOLUBLE COMPOSITIDN 0F SODIUM SILICATE OR THE LIKE AND PROCESS 0F PREPARING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-8.1914.

lPafcen'ad Sept. 12, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

wrrNEssEs4 economically and efficiently performed:

' A still further object` of my inventlon 1s 'to provide an apparatus suitable vfor the soLUBLE cofiuiosrron or sonnnm siLIcArE'onf'rE'Lmn' mrnocnssl or Pnnrannvc Tm; snm.

. Speci'cation 0f Letters Patent.

To all lwhom zt mcy concern:

- Be it known that I, LLOYD B *'EDcnn'roi/v,

a citizen ofthe. United States, and a resivdent of Upland, Delaware county, Pennsyl`v Vania, have invented certain new and useful" Soluble Compositions of Sodium Silicate or the like and 'Process of Preparing the Same,

of which the following is a specification,

reference being had to the accompanying solutions of sodium silicate and the like of the degreesof concentration most frequently employed in, the arts, to form the' aforesaid produc't,.andl which may-readily be so regulated and controlled as to leave in the final product substantially any percentage ofcontained Watanwithin limits, which may be desired, and which may be carrying lout of the process andby which the final product may be produced qmckly and economically' in relatively large quantities.

and features 4of construction and arrangement hereinafter more definitely Broadly-v speaking, my process consists 1natomizing 'or otherwise' finely dividing a solution of sodium .silicate m' the presence of moisture absorbing atmosphere,prefer ably a moving column of heatedair whereby the desired amount of moisture is A,under all ordinary conditions and readily' extractedV fr'om lthe s olution and. a resultant finely. divided alkaline product formed, which is relatively high in slllca, stable soluble-in hotor cold water, its `degree of somewhat affected by the percentage of contained moisture.` The resultant product My invention further includes alliof various other novel steps, characterlstl'cs,

may thereafter means.

bev collected by any suitable For the purpose' of carrying out my proc- Patented sept. 12. 191e.-

ess any apparatus may be employed suitable to obtain-the results desired,'but in the practice -of my invention, I prefer to make use 'of an apparatus constructed substantially as shown in the drawings, in which-4 VFigure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the apparatus, certain parts being shown in-elevation for the Isake of rclearness; Fig. 2 a horizontal section' thereof; Fig.' 3 an enlarged, fragmentary side elevation' of a detail of thedevice; and Fig.- Li'an enlarged planviewlof'a similar` detail partially'inhorizontal section.

" The form of apparatus illustrated and .Y i'

which is suitable fr the carrying out lof the process on a relativelylarge commercial scale,may comprise a--suitable building havingside walls, 1 and 2, front wall 3, rear wall 4, roof '5, and main door 6, the interior of the, buildingV being `divided transversely 'by a vertically extending partition 7, the space 1 8.0 Y it and thefront 'wall 3, constitutinga room in front ofthe partition, that is, 'between hereinafter referred to as the stack room? orchamber 8. The side walls 1 and 2 of vtheV building may extend rearwardly from the. front `wall 3 Vin a single planeor mayA be'outwardly diverged near the rear of the stack room as shown iii-the drawings so that-the backpartA ofthe buildingwill 'be' somewhat wider thanthe front portion.. 904

That portion of the building in the -rear 'of partition 7 is divided by means of suitable horizontal ioorsinto a plurality of .different l rooms which will hereinafter bedescribed' in detail.

Referring now more Vof the apparatus in the front' ofthe partition f 7 and throughthe operation-of which 'the atomizing ofthe silicate 'solution' and -the especially the'con- .struction and arrangement 'of those parts reduction of its moisture content is carried- 100. out, tlie saine may comprise au plurality of Vvetic'zally extending stacks-10 and 11' vopen at Vthe t'op and arranged along 'the sides of v I the stack room 8, constructed of any suitable material, and of any suitable'dimensions. 1

In practice, however, it is preferred to make 'Y Vthe stacks substantially rectangular or cir" cular in cross Section and of a'width'- or di-l Y' Y amter relatively small' in` proportion to` their length es shown in t'he drawings. Vif 110 ber of stacks may be employed though good.

the stacks are constructed of substantially rectangular section, 'the side walls 1 and 2 ofthe .building may be utilized to form the back wall of the stacks'as shown, and in such case, theside walls adjacent thelbase of each stack may be provided with suit.-

able preferably separate vertically sliding doors 13, whereby access may beV obtained to the interior of eachstackwhen desired. It'

willbe understood that in practice any num Vresults may bel obtained by vthe use of ive stacks upon eachside as illustrated. The lower ends `of the stacks may preferably terminate at a point considerably above the V.foundation 14 of the building. Within the stack-'room between the opposed sets of stacks'are located the false floors 16 sloping downwardly toward the center of the build- .ingn The .angle of the floors is'such that theirA surface 'intersects the fronts. of the y Y stacks near the lower ends of the latter', and

the iioors are carried up to a line 15 upon the side walls 1 and 2 between the stacks and front wall 3.. Another false floor 17 slopes downwardly from aV corresponding line .on this wall and intersects with the floors 16. A longitudinal opening 18 is left,

however, between the adjacent 'inner edges of the false floors 16 which' opening extends )from the points of intersection of the lower edges ofA these ioors and the lower edge of the floor 17 which slopes from the front wall 3, toward the'rearof the building to ya point adjacent partition 7 for a purpose to be hereinafter described. A suitable partition 19' adjacent `that edge of the floors-16 nearest partition 7 serves to close the open space formed between the under sides Vof the floors 16, the sides of the building and the surface of the main floors 6. .7' In the operation, of the apparatus, the

lsilicate solution is forced under suitable preure and by means of a suitable pump,

not show-n, into the silicate pipes'20 and 21 'which extend preferably along the outside of the' building parallel to the side walls thereof, the'ends of thepipes opposite to those at which the Solution' is vintroduced being pennanentlyclosed by suitable .caps 23. The-silicate pipes are connected, preferably, as hereinafter described, to Vsuitable atomizing nozzles 25 one of Awhich is located centrally of each s tack adjacent the lower end thereof and pointing vertically upward therein, each nozz'le being, also similarly Y connected to the air pressure pipes 27, v28, .preferably extending parallel to and. above the silicate pipes and in the same vertical- .plane therewith, one end` of each of the air pipes being suitably closed by a cap 30 'andthe other end connected by means of suitable piping 3 1 .to an air receiver 32 .in which atmospheric air may be maintained' at suitable pressure by means.A of the air pump 33 of any suitable or preferred construction connected to the receiver by piping 34. A valve 35 between the receiver and (pipe 31 controls the admission of air thereto and from thence to the airpipes. The nozzles 25 may be of any suitable or preferred construction capable of eifectuating the atomization -of the viscous silicate solution andof ejecting the same upwardly in the form of an inverted cone having very gradually diverging-sides, whereby contact of the ascending particles of the atomized solution with the walls of the stack'is prevented and the cone-like contour of the ascending vapor preserved for substantially the entire length of the stack.

For the purpose'of supplying a suitable ascending column of heated `air in each stack to absorb requisite amount of moisture from the finely divided silicate solution as it issues from the atomizing nozzles 25, as hereinafter y described, I prefer to provide a blower 40l of lany suitable or.preferred constructlon which may be -locatedexterio'rly of the buildnot illustrated in thedrawings From the heater 44, the air is carried by means of a suitable pipe 46 toward the front wall 3,

.the -pipe being branched laterally adjacent.

thereto and carried .through the wall and beneath the stacks, the outer ends of each branch ofthe pipe being closed to form a header along each side of and. within the building,l the headers .preferably resting in the spaces formed beneath the false floors 16,'the bottoms ofthe stacks and the side walls 1 and 2 respectively. The headers are connected by a plurality of separate upwardly extending'pipes 47 with theI bottoms of the stacks and the proportions of each header and ofthe pipes are so designed that 't-substantially equal quantity of air will bedischarged into each separate stackwhen the blower 40 is in operation, the heating chamber being so arranged that the tem-- perature of the air may be regulated and `I nain'ta-ined at any desired point.

While any suitable or preferred method maybe employed foi supportingl the nozzles with the air and silicate pipes, I prefer to so arrange the nozzles that they may be riven from any suitable vthereof to any desired point, the same are los 25 within the stacks and connecting themv F ig. 4 or cleaning or other purposes, theA readily separately withdrawn from the stacks for the purpose of cleaning and adjustment, and foi' this purpose, I run a sub' stantially'L-shaped pipe 50 from the adjacent silicate pipe to the bottom ofA any given nozzle, and a similar L-shaped pipe 51 from the adjacent air pipe to-the side of the same nozzle. The ends of these pipes opposite the ends'connecte'd to the nozzles are turned respectively vertically downwardly and vertically. upwardly, and connected to the silicate and air pipes by vertically aligned swinging joints V53 which may be of any suitable construction to permit the rotation of the pipes in a horizontal plane. Substantially in themiddle of the doors 13, I provide a vertically extending slot 55 of sufficient width to permit thev door to slide downwardly into closed position over the pipes 50 and 51 when the nozzle is in operative position within the stack, and I so locate the swinging joints 53 longitu dinally of the air and silicate pipes that' when any door 13 is raised, the nozzle may be swun outwardly to the position shown in vertical distance between theair and silicate pipes being sufficient to permit the nozzle to pass between them and the axis of rotation being sufliciently offset to allow the nozzle to'clear the side of the stack during its outward movement. After the nozzle has been adjusted, it may bereadily swung back to its position within the stack and the door 13 slid vertically downwardly to closed position. To render the stack substantially air tight, asuitable laterally sliding'plate 57 may be vprovided upon the exterior of thedoor to completely close the slot 55, itvbeing desirable to render the stacks, and i fact thewhole stack roomV chamber,

. `as air -tight as possible. `Over the upper open ends of the stacks an inwardly curving deflector is provided whereby the air currentsssuing from the stackswill be projected toward the center of the stack'room. l During the operation of the apparatus ,which will hereinafter be described in de lvtail, the atomized silicate solution` is projec'tedl simultaneously upward from each of the nozzles 25 intothe ascending column of heated air dischargedinto the stacks from the pipes 47, which serves to'extract almost instantaneously the required amount of moisture so'that on issuing from the top of the stacks the ascending fair will contain the dust-like final product suspended therein, a

portion 'of which, comprising the heavier part, will immediately settle to theilool` of thestack room and will slide downwardly thereon toward the longitudinal space 18 between the inwardly slanting false floors 16,

where it will ledge upona suitable belt conveyeror other `carrying means 63, preferably located below. the level of the main floor 6, constantly traveling in the direction of'the arrow and actuated from any suitable source of power as by belt 64 and will be carried over and dispo-sed within a suitable chamber from which it may be elevated by suitable elevating means 66, provided with buckets 67 and inclosed in a vertically extending casing 68 and conveyed tothe chute 69 passing through partition 7 and thence vto a hopper 7() within the packing room 71 in the back part of the building and occupying the whole lower portion thereof. Above this room and separated from it by a suitable horizontal floor 7 4, is the air outlet room 75 above which in turn and separated therefrom by a horizontal floor 76, is the dust room 78, both of these rooms being co'- extensive with the interior of that portion of the building in which they are located. However, but a relatively Snall portion of the final product will in practice settle upon the-floor of the stack room and it is, therefore, necessary to provide means whereby the impalpably fine material still suspended within the air discharged from thel stacks may be collected, and for this purpose I prefer to provide means whereby the velocity of the moving air will be constantly diminished to a point at which means may be successfully interposed in its path to exprovide a series of vertical extending curtract the suspended matter, andfor this I tain walls 80, 81, 82 extending transversely across the building and provided with suitable openings of increasingly greater area .so disposed as to cause the current of air alternately ascend and descend while travi ersing said openings whereby its velocity A.will be greatly diminished. While I may ing 84 adjacent the top of the vwall 81, an

opening 86 adjacent the bottom of the wall 82 and of greater height than the opening 85, and an opening 87 ofstill greater height in partition 7 which separates the dust room 78, air outlet roomv- 75 and'packing room 71 'from the front part ofthe building, all of the lseveral openings preferably extending horizontally from one side of the building to necessarilybe provided in the lower part lli of the curtain wall 8.1 to permit-the passage v of any material resting upon the conveyer '63, the opening, however, being made as small as possible to prevent the escape of Ja material quantity of air at that point. It will thus be evldent that the several separate columns of'air discharged from the variousstacks will lirst be deflected toward the middle of the stack room by the deilectors 60 and there, merging together, will be forced downwardly toward the floor by the continuous discharge from the stacksand thence, carrying the suspended material, through the opening 84, upwardly between walls 80 and 81, through opening 85, down'- wardly between walls 8l and 82, through opening 86, upwardly between walls 82 and partition 7 and throughopening 87 as indicated by the arrows, finally reaching the..

dust room 7 8 with a diminished velocity of preferably not over one-half foot per second.

The Hoor of the dust room is provided with a plurality of openings90 the sum of the arcas of the several openings 90 being pref` erably greater than .the 'area of the opening 87, in each of which is secured a downwardly depending pipe or nipple 9lextend ing for a short distance below the floor into the air outlet room 75.' To each of these nipples is-secured a tubular bag 93 referably composed of ine soft cloth havmgvan extremely small mesh, and formed of a length somewhat greater than the Vertical distance between the ioors 74 and 76 so that the lower end of each of the bags may be folded over as indicatedat 95 for the purlroom 75, from which it passes in' turn to the outer atmosphere through air ports 96 the walls of the4 building. The suspended material, however, is unable to pass through the line meshes of the material from which the bags are formed, especiallyinfview of the lgreatly diminished velocity-of Athe air in which itl isV suspended', and is therefore 'retained within the bags, from whichi it may be readily' collected as Ydesired by un? folding thev ends 9 5v and emptied in.' thehopf pi 98in1the' H001'. of the room whichis. e011:- nectd by a suitable chute 99 Ewithtle hop'-` per 70 and preferably closed,- except' when `1n1use,by a suitable trapdoor. Thematerial' coming from'the'chute 99 minf-4 'glsiwvitn that. from the diete 69 `and*ieeiefc'fted from the lowerend of the hopper; 7()

" the paekingaoom 71 at which pome a; may

"repared for shipment. A, p .v ith an-V apparatus constructed tially as hereinbefore. described`,the operation of my process may be eiectuated bysup# plying the silicate solution to the 'pipes 20 and 21 at-'suitable pressures andvby meansV of apump or other device (not shown), and

in practice, I find that' good results'may be obtained with a pressure of 15 to 20,pounds to the square inchr: Simultaneously compressed air at relatively high pressures is supplied to'the pipes 27 and 28 from the receiver 32 and from thence to the nozzlesfor the purpose of forcino' the silicate 'solution therefrom in atomized condition as hereinbefore explained. In practice, l have found for thepurpose of atomizing the viscous solution, Ian air pressure of from 2% to 8 atmospheres may' be employed, the higher pressuresl with suitable nozzles giving the most satisfactory results. The temperature ofthe air supplied to the nozzles may be varied between considerable limits, good re.- sults being obtained when the air is of substantially the temperature as it comes from the receiver 32. During the atomization of the solution and as it is ejected from the nozzles, a suitable moving column of air is. s upplied to each of the stacks from the heater 44 through the medium of the pipe connection hereinbefore described, the temperature of which may be varied within considerable limits. AIn practice, however, I find that the best results are obtained when the tempera-- ture of the column of air is maintained between let()o and '2001? F., depending upon the percentage of moisture which it is desired to leave in `the final product, ythe air when maintained at the higher temperatures extracting a greater percentage thereof. I

have alsov found `that to produce the'inal product with a given moisture content, :the

temperature ofthe Ecolumn of airv will necessarily be varied' to y.a certain extentd'epending upon the amount of'moisture contained in the atmosphericv .air drawn into the blower 40, a greater percentage .of moistureyin'the atmospheric. air` necessitating vthe maintenance of Atheaindis Charged. into the stacks at a higher temperature lhorder tipqdllce .v

a given'. mosturecontet' than. Whllltheatf mospheric aircontainsa sr'nalle'rA pertagfe of moisture, whichcase `.lowerC temperatures may uti'li'z'eda'nd' the same. iiialjref. @lts attained-L .B'yy eproper regulation if air, almost any. amputffofnioisture may. be i I 11s abile .fr commerciali'. le-larp.@ses4 .fo ,.ferm.. the' 'product 'with a'nioistur'content. .of approxi...

@any soluble. .mi @u weer @kauwen-.mf taining: ai .maar perenni: 1 of: misere.

naify bags in the air outletroorn 7.5'V transferred to .the packing' room, each' ofl said nef cl aims.

rooms being of course provided withl suitable doors for the ingress and egress of the workmen which, however, are not shown inthe drawings for the sake of clear-ness.

I do not desire to limitmyself to the production ofsoluble compositions hi l1 in silicate from solutions of sodium silicate'v alone, as solutions of other silicates may equally well be employed, either,alone, or in combination 'with other ingredients such as sodium sulfate, 'which may if desired [be combined with a solution of sodium silicate.

and a resultant soluble product vformed,

vtherefrom by means of *my process which is equally adapted for use with suchl combined.

solutions as with a pure'so'lution of sodium silicate, nor -do I 'desire to limit; myself in A the carrying out of my process toithe use of an apparatus constructed inexact conformity to the apparatus herein described, .as it will be evident that various changes may` be made in the details thereof without departing from its principal features and characteristics and from the spirit and scope ofmy Having thus described my invention, I

claim and desieto protect by Letters Patent of the United States:

1. The process of' preparing a soluble composition of sodium silicate, which conheated air.

sistsin discharging a finely divided solution of sodium'f'silicate a moving column of 2. The process `of preparing a soluble lcomposition of sodium silicate, which con? sists in atomizing a solution lof-sodium-siliu cate 1n the presence of a movlng column of heated air of relatively ylarge volume.

3. The processY` of preparing a soluble composition of sodium silicate, which consists in atomizingl a solution of sodium sil-1- cate and ejecting the same upwardly in the presence of heated air. v

4. The processlof absorbing a portion of the moisture content from la solution of sodium silicate,which consists in discharging the solution in finely divided condition into a moving column of heated air having an'upWardB7 moving column of a relatively ylow moisture content.

5. The process of' extracting a portion of the moisture content from a lsolution of sodium silicate, whicl consls'ts in discharging the solution is finely divided condition into ajmoving column of air having a terninvention-as defined in the appended ture-,absorbing air.

v f i f. perature between140 and 200 LFahrenheit and a. relatively low moisture content.

p 6. The process of preparing a soluble composition offsodium silicate, which consists in atomizing a. solution of sodium silicate 1n the presence of a moving column of heated air' whereby a desired percentage of the moisture content of said solutionA is extracted, and said composition produced in the form of a finely divided, apparently dry powder. 'l

7. The process of preparing a soluble solid compositionr from a solution of sodium silicate, which consists in discharging the .solution in finely divided condition into a .moving column of heated air, whereby '-a.

portion of the moisture content of the solution is absorbed-and a final product soluble in 'cold or warm water obtained in the form of' a finely divided apparently dry powder having a moisture content of less than twent per cent.

alkaline sodium silicate composition having the appearance of a line, apf;

paientlyl ldry powder comprising substantially globular articles, saidcompo'sition being readily so uble in hot orcold water and stable under ordinary conditions. V

9.A sodium silicate composition having an alkaline reaction, and in the form of an apparently .dry ne powder. composed ofy substantially spherical "particles, said composition beingl freely soluble in hot or coldl atmosphere.

12. The process of preparing a solubleA composition of sodium silicate which consists in discharging a finely divided solution of sodium silicatev into a body of mois In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand-.this7th day of December, 1914.

LLOYD B. EDGERTONr ".Witnesses: l

.y JAMEs'G. VAIL GEORGE K. HELBER'J/z.

los 

